Career and employability learning through storytelling for the sustainable development goals

Abstract

For responsible management education to have a meaningful impact on business practice through future business leaders, it is imperative to integrate career and employability-related learning. If ‘Education for Sustainable Development’ and employability are delivered in siloed learning design programmes, students may not recognise and leverage opportunities to design career paths that meet personal aspirations alongside supporting broader global goals. Responding to the need for a more integrated and holistic approach to ESD and employability, this paper explores how to facilitate connections between sustainability-related disciplinary learning and subsequent career decision-making and behaviours. A pioneering instructional resource is shared here that enables students to identify, develop, and communicate sustainability-related competencies and attributes to employers. Through the novel application of ‘Career and Employability Learning’ (CEL) constructs to ‘sustainability storytelling’, the underlying design of this resource illustrates how to shape and impact future workplaces in support of the SDGs. Empirical findings of implementing the masterclass across 18 universities provide cross-institutional student, educator and career professional feedback and testimonials. This paper offers multiple insights through an innovative methodological design, an innovative instructional resource, and an integrated pedagogic approach to sustainability and employability learning.